mole had a photograph gallery in deacon jones’ woods. one of the rooms was all dark, because it was under the ground, and here he spent nearly all his time making pictures come on the glass plates. he was there so much that after a while he could hardly see at all, so he had to get ugly dog to help him. ugly dog was a good barker, and he stood out in front of the photograph gallery all day, saying: “step right up, birds and animals and get your very fine pictures taken.”

ugly dog made so much noise, and talked so much about the pictures, that nearly all the birds and animals ordered a dozen photographs apiece. silly goose, gray mouse and kerchug, the leap-frog, were so pleased that each of them ordered two dozen.

ugly dog was out in front of the photograph gallery, barking one afternoon when he saw sly fox in the bushes coming toward him. he and sly fox were not friends, and he began to growl and snarl.

“stop your noise,” called out the mole, coming out of the dark room. “you are shaking all the pictures down.”

“i can’t help it,” cried ugly dog, “sly fox made me stand in front of the house which was running on two rails and the front step knocked me over and nearly killed me.”

“now you do what i tell you,” said mole, “and you can pay sly fox for that trick.”

so mole and ugly dog went down into the dark room, and mole told ugly dog just what to do. ugly dog went back and stood in front of the photograph gallery, and when sly fox came up he made a low bow.

“good morning, sly fox. ha! ha!” he said. “that was such a very good joke. after the running house struck me and i found myself lying in the road, i got up and laughed, and laughed so hard that for weeks afterward i was sore all over. you are such a very funny animal, and you look just as funny as you are. whenever i see that great, big, long, thin neck of yours i can hardly help laughing.”

sly fox was very vain. he put his paw up to his neck and felt it all over, and then said: “you are a very foolish animal, ugly dog. anybody can see that my neck is very short and very graceful.”

“i don’t wonder that you do not care to have your picture taken,” said ugly dog. “silly goose passed by here only yesterday and ordered two dozen. i don’t suppose that my partner, mole, would care to risk his camera taking a picture of one so ugly, anyway. it’s too bad that your tail is so short and stubby.”

[116]

sly fox sits for his picture.

[117]

now, sly fox was very proud of his long and bushy tail, and when he heard what ugly dog said, he became red in the face.

“it’s just as well,” said ugly dog, “that you do not take a very good picture, for i hear that you have so little money now that you could not afford to do so, anyway.”

then sly fox shook his paw in ugly dog’s face.

“take my picture right away,” he said, “and i’ll let you know that i have money to pay for it. i shall wait here until it is done.”

so ugly dog called down to his friend mole, and mole came up with his camera.

“sit right down on this stool,” said ugly dog.

sly fox sat down, and behind him ugly dog put a funny kind of tongs passing to a long rod. he put the ends of the tongs under sly fox’s ears and screwed them up real tight.

“that’s to keep your head still,” said mole.

“don’t you think that is a little bit too tight?” asked sly fox, squirming around, for he was held so fast that he had shooting pains in his head.

“look pleasant, please,” grunted mole, from under the cloth which was over the camera.

“you must stay here for fifteen minutes,” added ugly dog, very quietly.

[118]

o, my! o, my! take it away!

[119]

so sly fox stayed sitting there with a bouquet in his right paw and trying to look pleasant, although the tongs about his ears were so tight that his eyes stuck out, and he could hardly keep his tongue from hanging down. mole took the camera back into the dark room, and, after awhile, he came out with a photograph all finished.

“i’ll put it up right in front of you, sly fox,” said ugly dog, “so that you can take a good look at it.”

as sly fox looked toward the photograph ugly dog slipped up behind and gave the tongs another turn and then jumped back into the bushes. when sly fox saw the picture he raised his paws and said, “o, my! o, my! take it away.” it was such an awful picture that it would scare anybody to look at it. mole had placed pictures of different animals together and had made one picture. there was a creature with a long neck like silly goose’s, and a little stubby tail like ugly dog’s, and a body like big elephant’s. it had two feet which looked like the goose’s, and two other feet which looked like elephant’s feet.

“i don’t look like that?” cried sly fox.

“i just made your picture,” said mole in a sleepy voice, “and nobody can ever say that i ever took the wrong animal. isn’t your name sly fox?”

“o, yes,” replied sly fox, “but i am a very handsome animal.”

“i can’t see that you are,” replied the mole. “that is your picture, and now you’ll have to pay for it.”

so ugly dog and mole took pay for a dozen pictures and[120] put the photograph up just in front of sly fox, where he could see it and could not reach it.

“take it away. take it away,” cried sly fox.

ugly dog and mole went away to dinner and left sly fox sitting in the chair snarling and crying. he stayed there for two hours, until his friend patrick o’possum came along and unscrewed the tongs and let him go. ever since that sly fox has not been nearly so proud of himself, and he has never played another trick on ugly dog.